“But no one else knows it,” I explained. “It was brought to Woosung and passed by the inspector as the mortal remains of Prince Kai. The Shanghai papers reported the arrival of the body of the Prince, in the care of his faithful servant, the noble governor, Mai Lo, and also gave an account of the accident that caused his death. So now all China knows that Mai Lo did his duty, and is escorting the remains of his master to the ancestral halls at Kai-Nong.”
“I see,” said Joe, nodding. “The secret is between Mai Lo and ourselves. That is why he frightened the doctor away, and tried to prevent us from continuing the journey to Kai-Nong.”
“Exactly,” I returned. “Mai Lo has been saved—for a time, anyhow—from committing suicide, by the very trick we played to deceive him. Perhaps he saw through our game from the beginning; I do not know. But we played into his hands, and so he let us go on. Now there is no further danger, for he knows we dare not betray the imposture and it will be easy for him to place the supposed body in the ancestral halls without its being examined by anyone. Yet he preferred not to have us with him when he should reach Prince Kai’s palace.”
“Naturally,” said Archie.
“But this knowledge is a protection to us, anyhow,” observed Joe. “Mai Lo is sharp enough to know that if he plays us any tricks we will explode the whole deception.”
“That idea is doubtless influencing him, even now,” I said. “What we have to fear is not open warfare, but trickery and secret assassination. I don’t know how powerful the letter and ring of Prince Kai will be in his own province, of which Mai Lo is governor; but the Prince seemed to think they would command obedience. Time will have to determine that.”
“What did you mean by saying that Mai Lo would be saved from suicide for a time?” asked Archie.
“Why, according to the rules and regulations of ancestor worship, he’s got to commit suicide in a short time, and there’s no way of getting out of it—except to disappear from China forever. The Prince was the last of his royal line, and left no heir; so the rules oblige his chief representative to seal up his ancestral halls and destroy all traces of them, so that they will never be disturbed until the resurrection. Before doing this, Mai Lo must convert one-half the fortune of Prince Kai into gold, silver and jewels, and deposit the treasure beside his coffin. When all this is accomplished—and it will require a little time, although it must be done speedily—Mai Lo must commit suicide, in order that the secret of the entrance to the ancestral vaults shall perish from the knowledge of men. If he fails to kill himself, the other servants will kill him.”
“Suppose,” said Joe, slowly, “it was discovered that we shared the knowledge of the entrance to Prince Kai’s ancestral halls; what would happen then?”
“They would surely kill us,” I answered. “But the secret entrance of which the Prince informed me is unknown to any of his people—even to Mai Lo. I do not fear discovery.”